SURGERY IN WOUND TREATMENT 139 



adjunct to all medical and surgical practice and so 

 utterly indispensable in the departments of dressing and 

 nursing, and so often an available and valuable aid in 

 the very act of operating, must be considered to have 

 become an incorporated and constituent department of 

 the domain of surgery and medicine as well, and the 

 cultured veterinarian will, of course, so regard it in his 

 practice. 



Besides the special scientific attainments to which we 

 have referred, there are many other qualifications which 

 must enter into the character of the good and skillful 

 surgeon, in order to round it into true symmetry and 

 proportion. Bouley remarks that ''he must not only be 

 a man of science, but a man of art," meaning, we sup- 

 pose, that he should not only possess knowledge but know 

 how to make it available. First, he must possess the 

 faculty of knowing how to gauge the necessity of his 

 interference, with its manner and its duration ; or, on the 

 other hand, whether any interference is necessary, and 

 whether the true indication is not to refrain from active 

 measures. The result of his decision will afford a good 

 test and gauge of the extent to which he has profited by 

 his clinical and theoretical study. He is a wise philoso- 

 pher who can wisely determine when to let alone in oppo- 

 sition to the temptation to do something. Courage and 

 coolness, with patience, are essential qualities of tem- 

 per in an operating surgeon. To become alarmed and lose 

 his balance on the occurrence of some untoward inci- 

 dent, or the appearance of some unlooked-for abnormal 

 development or complication, or to give way to a spirit 

 of impatience because of unexpected delay, or, especially, 

 to resent the fractious movements of the suffering ani- 

 mals writhing under the knife or the glowing cautery, 

 is both unprofessional and unmanly. The terms, cour- 

 age, coolness, patience, and kindness should describe 

 his state of mind while operating. 



